If you or your employer make eligible contributions (defined later) to a retirement plan, you may be able to take a credit of up to $1,000 (up to $2,000 if filing jointly). This credit could reduce the federal income tax you pay dollar for
dollar.

You are a full-time student if, during some part of each of 5 calendar months (not necessarily consecutive) during the calendar year, you are
either:

A full-time student at a school that has a regular teaching staff, course of study, and regularly enrolled body of students in attendance,
or

A student taking a full-time, on-farm training course given by either a school that has a regular teaching staff, course of study, and regularly enrolled body of students in attendance, or a state, county, or local
government.

You are a full-time student if you are enrolled for the number of hours or courses the school considers to be
full-time.

An eligible deferred compensation plan of a state or local government (a governmental 457
plan),

A SIMPLE IRA plan, or

A salary reduction SEP, and

Contributions to a section 501(c)(18) plan.

They also include voluntary after-tax employee contributions to a tax-qualified retirement plan or a section 403(b) annuity. For purposes of the credit, an employee contribution will be voluntary as long as it is not required as a condition of
employment.

Reduce your eligible contributions (but not below zero) by the total distributions you received during the testing period (defined later) from any IRA, plan, or annuity included earlier under
Eligible contributions. Also reduce your eligible contributions by any distribution from a Roth IRA that is not rolled over, even if the distribution is not
taxable.

Do not reduce your eligible contributions by any of the following:

The portion of any distribution which is not includible in income because it is a trustee-to-trustee transfer or a rollover
distribution.

Any distribution that is a return of a contribution to an IRA (including a Roth IRA) made during the year for which you claim the credit
if:

The distribution is made before the due date (including extensions) of your tax return for that year,

You do not take a deduction for the contribution, and

The distribution includes any income attributable to the contribution.

Loans from a qualified employer plan treated as a distribution.

Distributions of excess contributions or deferrals (and income attributable to excess contributions and
deferrals).

Distributions of dividends paid on stock held by an employee stock ownership plan under section
404(k).

Distributions from an eligible retirement plan that are converted or rolled over to a Roth IRA.

You and your spouse filed joint returns in 2012 and 2013, and plan to do so in 2014 and 2015. You received a taxable distribution from a qualified plan in 2012 and a taxable distribution from an eligible section 457(b) deferred compensation plan in 2013. Your spouse received taxable distributions from a Roth IRA in 2014 and tax-free distributions from a Roth IRA in 2015 before April 15. You made eligible contributions to an IRA in 2014 and you otherwise qualify for this credit. You must reduce the amount of your qualifying contributions in 2014 by the total of the distributions you and your spouse received in 2012, 2013, 2014, and
2015.

The amount of this credit will not change the amount of your refundable tax credits. A refundable tax credit, such as the earned income credit or the additional child tax credit, is an amount that you would receive as a refund even if you did not otherwise owe any
taxes.

This is a nonrefundable credit. The amount of the credit in any year cannot be more than the amount of tax that you would otherwise pay (not counting any refundable credits or the adoption credit) in any year. If your tax liability is reduced to zero because of other nonrefundable credits, such as the education credits, then you will not be entitled to this
credit.

The amount of the credit you can get is based on the contributions you make and your credit rate. The credit rate can be as low as 10% or as high as 50%. Your credit rate depends on your income and your filing status. See Form 8880, Credit for Qualified Retirement Savings Contributions, to determine your credit
rate.

The maximum contribution taken into account is $2,000 per person. On a joint return, up to $2,000 is taken into account for each
spouse.

Figure the credit on Form 8880. Report the credit on line 51 of your Form 1040 or line 34 of your Form 1040A, and attach Form 8880 to your
return.